The English Premier League Quarterly Report

By Sebastian Tuinder

We’re already 10 matches into the 2019/2020 Barclays Premier League, and it seems like things are only just heating up.

“This weekend was wild,” said Christina Salerno, an avid Liverpool fan. “Liverpool are looking so good, but so is Man City. It’s still early on, but I think this is Liverpool’s year.”

This past weekend saw all teams play their tenth match out of the 38 that comprise of the English based football league. 

The Virtual Assistant Referee was called into action this weekend to make some seriously impactful decisions. The newly incorporated technology awarded two penalty kicks for Manchester United against Norwich, a gift that Marcus Rashford threw away after missing both opportunities.

But perhaps the most significant VAR decision came during the Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace match on Sunday. Two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the match seemed to dictate the outcome of the London Derby, but The Crystal Palace Eagles dug in and clawed back two goals to level things up. Late in the game, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the Arsenal center-back scored what everyone at Emirates Stadium thought was the winning goal. After VAR review, the goal was overturned due to a foul committed by Chambers in the goal’s build-up.

In an interview with The Guardian’s Donald McRae, James Milner, the Liverpool midfielder, said that he is not a big fan of VAR at all. 

“It’s very hard to use VAR when you’ve still got opinions on the decisions,” said Milner “and the atmosphere is being ruined. You score. There’s an explosion of noise and then it’s VAR. You wait. Is it a goal?”

A disallowed goal seemed to be the least of The Gunner’s problems after manager Unai Emery chose to replace captain Granit Xhaka. The captain was jeered off the field by Arsenal supporters to which he responded with a sarcastic encouragement by cupping his ears. The supporters’ jeers then turned to boos. Xhaka removed his Arsenal top, and made his way down the tunnel into the change rooms instead of the bench with his team mates.

Liverpool continued their winning streak at Anfield this Sunday against Tottenham Hotspurs, which brings them up to a 45 game winning streak. The Scousers found themselves reeling after a Harry Kane goal in the 47th second of the match.

Liverpool found their feet and put the Spurs keeper, Paulo Gazzaniga, to the test. Gazzaniga kept Liverpool at bay with some fine goal tendering, but Jordan Henderson’s 52nd minute close-range strike proved too much for the Argentine. 

It was a penalty decision in the 75th minute that allowed Liverpool’s Mo Salah to put the home team ahead. The goal marked the Egyptian’s 50th goal at Anfield.

Elsewhere in England, Southampton, coming off a huge win against Arsenal one week prior, were obliterated by Leicester City in a 9-0 defeat. Both Perez and Vardy claimed hat-tricks on Friday afternoon. In response to the embarrassing defeat, Southampton players chose to donate Friday’s wages to a local charity. 

“We must know that when we play like this, we have no chance to stay in this league,” said Ralph Hasenhuettl, Southampton’s manager, to reporters. 

Other notable results from the weekend came from Manchester United who relearned how to win with a 3-1 defeat over Norwich City. Chelsea entertained their traveling fans with a 4-2 win over Burnley. And Manchester City convincingly beat Aston Villa 3-0 despite being reduced to 10 men after Fernadinho’s 87th minute red card.

Liverpool remain six points clear of second place Manchester City, with Leicester in third, and Chelsea in fourth – both teams on 20 points.